[i]Preface:Apologies if this is the wrong board to post to, but I prefer unbiased opinions over those which I could get from either the Finale or Sibelius webpages.[/i]

I used Finale all throughout college so I know (most of) the ins and outs of that program, atleast the older versions. However, since getting VDL1 I've switched to Sibelius because it lends it self nicely to notating and playing back percussion staves.

That being said, has anyone else noticed a lack of ease of use on Sibelius' part as to the page layout process? I can't get my scores to look as good as they used to when I was using Finale. Perhaps there are some features covered in the Sib manual which I am completely missing, but here are a couple of things that drive me nuts:

-unable to change notehead size universally
-unable to move staves around without affecting everything else. (i.e. if I have two lines, I would like to have them towards the top of the page. Not evenly spaced over the entire page)

If anyone has any thoughts, or suggestions on this I would certainly welcome them! Or even other things that should convince me to stick with Sibelius.

Again, sorry for posting an almost Off-Topic post. Like I said, I value the opinions on this forum MUCH more than the biased manufacturer boards.

If you want to move a staff up or down (globally), simply click on it 3 or 4 times. When you do this, you'll notice that the entire staff gets highlighted for the entire score. Then just drag up or down and it'll affect placement throughout (not just on one page).

I'm not sure about notehead sizing...i haven't had much need for that, but my guess is there's an easy solution for that as well. I've used both Finale and Sibelius extensively, and definitely prefer the power, elegance, and output of Sibelius. They're both very capable programs, and I think it's really a matter of preference which one to use.

For some reason, moving staves and measures around like that never seems to work for me. :oops: I'll look into it more, thanks! :?

everything in sibelius is easy- just read the manual or hit F1 for help...

ctrl+d gives you the overall document setup so you can shrink or grow the staff size. This way you can fit more or less on a page. If you go into the House Style menu, you can tweak the appearance of the sheet music as much as you want. I usually use staff size of 4 or 5 for full marching percussion ensemble. If you want a specific notehead to be a different size, you can make custom ones.

For changing where you want things to appear on a page, it's simple as dragging it around the screen. If you want space between lines, drag them apart. If you want a measure to be wider or smaller, click and drag the barline right or left- you can change how everything is laid out with drag and drop.